Wings Of Freedom
by PrincessOfTheNight93
Summary: To children that have no concept of such a thing as slavery, Eren and Armin thought nothing of befriending Mikasa, a young girl under ownership of a cruel merchant. As she grows, Mikasa finds that her world is quickly changing for the worst. She is thrust deeper into a life of enslavement, and the boys develop plans of their own for Mikasa's future: freedom from her abusive master.


_**Before I get started, let me just clear up a couple warnings: OCs in this story are literally unavoidable. There is an OC that will recur constantly, if you don't like that, this probably isn't a good story for you. With that being said, this OC is also a very insensitive and crude person. He will say things that can be considered offensive to some people. You have been warned.**_

* * *

"Eren, I don't think this is a very good idea," Armin tried to warn his impulsive friend, but the mischievous brunette acted as though Armin hadn't even spoken.

"It'll be fine," Eren told him. "You might even enjoy yourself if you loosen up for once." Armin really wasn't sure where his friend saw any appeal whatsoever in going out of his way to irritate one of the richest men in all of Shiganshina, but he wasn't going to argue the point. With Eren, one eventually had to realize that arguing him was like kicking a boulder, for all the reaction he gave. It was simply pointless, and Armin had long since learned this. As the two walked toward a market stall the woman attending it, a tall, pale, black-haired lady turned to face them.

"Eren Jaeger," she said her black eyes fixing him in a stern and reprimanding glare. "Now, I can only hope that you aren't here to make trouble for me." Eren gave her a sheepish grin.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Mrs. A."

"I'm sure, Eren," she said, turning around and moving something between the shelves toward the rear of the stall.

"Where is Mr. Henkener?" Eren asked innocently enough, to which the woman's stern took returned.

"Don't go making trouble with him. My life is hard enough as it is, without him being antagonized." Eren's face quickly grew irritated at her tone, but she ignored it. "Now, if you're not going to buy anything, shoo. I'm busy." Before turning back around she added, "If you're looking for Mikasa, she's-"

"KIMI!" A very loud and very angry male voice sounded from behind the stall. "Do something about your daughter before I break both her arms!" No sooner had the last word faded away, a smaller, albeit far more frightened, version of Kimi Ackerman came dashing around the market stall, running to her mother's side and burying her face into her hip.

"Mikasa," she said softly, bending down beside her and tilting her chin to look her in eyes, "what did you do?"

"I'm sorry," she panicked, "I didn't mean it!" Kimi closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As the man that had been yelling appeared right after Mikasa, her mother subtly shifted the position Mikasa was standing in so that she stood between the two. The man that approached her was lean and built, with ash blond hair, sharp, piecing brown eyes and features that were almost always contorted in a grimace or smirk.

"I swear to god, Kimi, if you don't do something about that little _menace,_ I'm going to beat the shit out of her." Kimi felt Mikasa tighten her grip on her hand.

"Sir," she said, avoiding eye contact with the angry man, "I'm sure it was just an accident. She's just a child, after all."

"She's retarded, is what she is!" he barked at her. If Kimi hadn't possessed more self-control, she would have glared back at him. Mikasa was far from stupid, and Kimi was fully aware of this. Mikasa's problem was that he was constantly demanding tasks and results from her than an eight-year-old simply wasn't capable of achieving. "Go clean up the mess your daughter made," he ordered when Kimi didn't respond to his insult. For the briefest moment, she hesitated, not really wanting to leave Mikasa to suffer the wrath of Alric completely on her own.

"Please-" she started to say, but was cut off when his hand come down across her mouth forcefully.

"Don't argue with me!" In that moment, any defiance she was feeling faded into oblivion and with one last look at her daughter, the dark-haired woman quietly walked away. Alric grabbed a fistful of Mikasa's ebony-colored hair and pulled her closer, so that the two were face-to-face.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered. The man's face twisted in disgust.

"Yes, I know," he growled. "I've heard that more times than I can care to count." Mikasa didn't dare respond to Alric; she didn't even have the courage to look him in the eyes. "You're damn lucky that your mother is so sure that you'll be even remotely useful to me one day, otherwise I'd have sold you years ago!" He tangled his rough fingers even deeper into the girl's black locks, so much so that she felt like he was going to rip it out. "Go find something to do besides destroying shit!" he hissed in her face before releasing her hair and roughly shoving her against the ground. "I'd better not see you again until this evening."

"Hey!" a voice suddenly sounded out. "Don't do that to her!" Eren had quietly been watching the entire scene play out. While he didn't' like that the man had hit Mikasa's mother right in front of her, seeing his friend get shoved to ground was more than Eren could tolerate. Alrics brown eyes flashed to Eren, and his face glowered.

"Go find something to do, Jaeger. I have more important matters to deal with than you today. And keep your nose out of areas where it needn't be." With that, Alric stalked off, leaving Mikasa to pick herself up.

"Have you ever considered kicking him where it hurts?" Eren asked her. Mikasa looked up, finding herself staring directly into a pair of turquoise eyes as Eren extended a hand to help her stand. With a small smile, Mikasa accepted the gesture. "I hate that asshole so much," he added, glaring after the blond. "He thinks he's so much better than everyone else." Silently, Mikasa agreed with him, but didn't dare say a word – she was certain that she hated Alric Henkener for very different reasons than Eren did.

* * *

"So, what was that about?" Eren, Armin and Mikasa were casually sitting by the river winding through the center of Shiganshina. Armin was kneeling along the edge, staring intently at his reflection, Eren was skipping rocks half-halfheartedly, as if extremely bored, and Mikasa was right next to him. Mikasa didn't answer him immediately; she was a tiny bit embarrassed that Eren and Armin had witnessed that scene.

"He wanted me to do something I couldn't," she said quietly, staring at her feet. "I was trying to help him unload some crates of fruit from the wagon, but I dropped one. That's all it was."

"That's it?" Armin asked, to which Mikasa nodded.

"Yeah. He's got a very short temper."

"I saw he hit your mother," the blond said softly. Mikasa closed her black eyes as the guilt stabbed her right in the heart. She was more than aware that was her fault – if her mother hadn't been trying to protect her for screwing up, that wouldn't have happened.

"Why does your mom put up with that?" Eren asked. "If I were her, I'd have left a long time ago." Mikasa shrugged.

"She says we can't. I've asked her before."

"That's dumb," Eren commented. "I mean, why the hell would anyone want to live with someone like _that_?"

"I think it's something to do with her position," Armin added, his voice soft. "It's not like Mrs. Ackerman can choose who they live with." Eren looked at his friend in confusion.

"Why's that?"

"My grandfather says it's because Mikasa and her mom are Mr. Henkener's slaves." Mikasa looked at him. _There was that word again._ She had heard it many times before, and know that she was a slave, whatever that may be. From the way most people reacted when they used it, she knew it wasn't a good thing, but nobody had ever told her what it really meant.

"What the hell _is_ a slave, anyway?" Eren asked, echoing Mikasa's thoughts. Armin just shrugged.

"I'm not really sure. It's a status thing, but that's all I know."

"Well, I don't really care," Eren said, stifling a bored yawn, "All I know, is that we're friends with Mikasa. I don't care if she's a slave or whatever." Mikasa gave Eren a small smile, but her happiness was interrupted by a new voice.

"Well, well, if is isn't Jaeger and his girlfriends." Eren turned unwillingly to face the all-too-familiar blond kid standing behind them. He was older than them by a couple years, and stood much taller.

"Klaus, I'm not in the mood for your bullshit today," the brunette warned. "Don't try me." The older boy's patronizing blue eyes almost immediately fell on Armin, who quickly averted his gaze. "Really, Arlert," he sneered, that's pathetic."

"What is?" Armin still made no attempt to look at him.

"Even the slave has more of a spine than you."

"You know," Mikasa informed him, her face contorted in a scowl, "I have a name."

"Yeah, and so does my dog," Klaus laughed at her. "But I can guarantee that you get hit a lot more often than he does, don't you?" Mikasa just glared at him, unable to deny what he said. Yeah, she was hit quite often, but she wasn't going to admit that. "Henkener can't be a very pleasant man to have to call 'master', is he?" Mikasa ignored his unwanted comments, and instead focused on the the real reason that she had even gotten involved in the first place.

"Leave them alone," she snapped at him. Mikasa had never known why, but for some reason all the thugs living in the town had never never so much as threatened her. Eren and Armin were ganged up on almost daily, but for whatever reason, Mikasa had noticed that she seemed immune to it.

"Really, Jaeger?" Klaus looking away from Mikasa. "You've stooped to a new level, haven't you? Now you're relying on the slave to help you?" For a moment, Mikasa's angry glare wavered,.

"I don't know what the hell that means," Eren snapped. "Mikasa is my friend, so you'd better not be saying anything bad about her." His turquoise eyes were burning with a very familiar anger.

"That really doesn't surprise me at all," the blond laughed. "If you knew what she really was, you wouldn't even-"

"SHUT UP!" Eren made a move to deliver a punch straight into the boy's face, but was stopped by the sound of a throat being cleared and a hand grabbing his fist. His angry teal eyes whipped around to face a man that was tall and blond, and was wearing the unmistakable uniform for the Garrison branch of the military.

"I'd better not be seeing another fight between you boys. I hope you remember the last time I had to escort you home." Armin looked beyond relieved to see Hannes, but Eren just glared after the tKlaus as he backed away from the confrontation.

"Hey!" Eren called after him, moving to follow, but Hannes placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Enough," he warned them, giving Eren in particular a very stern look. "I don't want any more trouble from you three this week, alright?" The angry brunette just grunted in acknowledgment, and Hannes, seeming satisfied, started to walk away. "By the way, Mikasa," he told her, "it's getting pretty late. Unless you have permission from Alric to be out, you should probably think about heading home."

Mikasa quickly said her goodbyes to Eren and Armin, and started to walk toward the house where she lived. She might not have known exactly what a slave was, but she knew one of the rules was that they had a curfew that the soldiers enforced – unless otherwise stated, they had to be inside by sundown. That had never really bothered Mikasa all that much; she didn't like being out after dark anyway.

By the time Mikasa had gotten home, her mother had already finished making dinner for Alric and was in the cellar where she spent her nights with Mikasa, making a second, though far less luxurious, meal for herself and her daughter. They hadn't said a word about what had happened earlier that day; during the night, Kimi tried to forget that they were both doomed to a life of servitude, and just tried to enjoy the time they had together.

It didn't take long for the drowsiness to kick in, and Mikasa was soon stifling yawns. Kimi carried her to the bed they shared, off to the side of the room. Technically, they each had their own bed, but they had to sleep in a cellar with no hear source besides a stove, when Kimi was only allowed to run when making meals. Therefore, it got very cold at night, especially in colder months, and they often ended up sleeping together to stay warm.

"Mom?" she asked, as her mother crawl into bed with her.

"Hm?"

"What does 'slave' mean? Mikasa felt her mother tense for a moment before sitting up and pulling her into a warm hug.

"Where did you hear that word?" Mikasa shrugged.

"Armin mentioned it earlier today, and a few boys in town were going to hit me until they realized I was a slave. They said that I wasn't a person. I just wondered what it meant."

There was silence for several seconds, as Kimi literally agonized over what to say. How could she tell her eight-year-old daughter that she wasn't considered to be a human being, that she was regarded by law as little more than a piece of property? Mikasa was more than likely going to spend her entire life doing various laborious and degrading tasks for nothing. She'd be bought and sold like a horse constantly. She'd be beaten and punished when she didn't obey everything her master said, or if he didn't like the way she did it. Her name would have a price tag attached to it, until the day she died. That's the only meaning her life would ever have. How could she even begin to explain that to an innocent child that had done nothing to deserve such a fate? Finally, Kimi answered her daughter.

"That's something you don't have to worry about for a few more years, my dear." Kimi gently ran her finger through Mikasa's dark black hair, stroking her head like she had since she was a baby. "It will come to pass someday, but enjoy your time with Eren and Armin while it lasts."

"What do you mean?" Mikasa frowned at her. "I'll always be friends with Eren and Armin." Kimi leaned in and gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead.

"Of course you will. Friendships aren't easily broken. But Mikasa, there will come a say when you'll all grow up and things will change. That's part of being a slave. Your friends are on a very different road than you are."

"Is that bad?" Mikasa asked.

"Yes," her mother whispered. "It's a terrible thing, but it's nothing you can control." Both pairs of black eyes met each other. "It's not your fault that you're a slave, Mikasa. Never forget that." Mikasa just gave her a small smile, and buried her head into the base of her mother's neck.

"I won't." Gently, the two laid down together once more. Kimi, wrapped her arms around her daughter, hugging her against her chest and wrapping the blanket around both of them. When she was satisfied that Mikasa was warm, she closed both her eyes, listening to the steady sound of the eight-year-old's breathing. The girl fell asleep like that, tucked against her neck. Kimi knew that slavery was one of the worse things mankind had had ever done to itself, but for the time being they had each other, and that was enough to keep them content.


End file.
